Life

Rush for Rushdie

New York socialite Michelle Barish “has declined” internationally reputed author Salman Rushdie’s “offer of marriage and returned the 7-carat emerald-cut diamond ring he presented to her,” according to New York Post gossip columnist Emily Smith.

The Daily Mail reported that the four-times previously married Rushdie proposed to his former flame Barish in December, two days after she split up with New York Giants co-owner Steve Tisch, quoting a source as saying, “Salman is besotted. He asked her within 48 hours of her breakup to marry him. He even has a ring.”

The Mail quoted Devorah Rose, who tweeted a photo of herself with Rushdie at a dinner that he was a “literary genius with the emotions of a horny child.”